It's been a brilliant year for Newmarket but there is always more work to do

Racing has thrived at Newmarket for more than 400 years. As my team and I head into the closing chapter of another season across our two racecourses, there are positive signs the sport will continue to thrive here for a lot longer yet.

We have been delighted to see significant crowd increases and positive customer feedback at our two flagship meetings, the Betfred Guineas and Debenhams July festivals. There were more than 33,000 racegoers in attendance at the Guineas festival, the highest since it became a three-day meeting in 2022, while the July festival had its highest crowd figure since Covid-19, with 36,500 racegoers joining us over the three days.

Our music nights and themed summer Saturdays were again a big hit with local racegoers, with Dinosaur Day for young families and the new 'Boots and Bridles' weekend proving particularly popular. Across our five summer Saturday fixtures, we were joined by 44,000 racegoers, of whom 11,000 were new customers, meaning 25 per cent of those who joined us had not visited before.